| November 10th, 2005 12:27 PM |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
40 more licks: The best overlooked Stones songs since 1981
BY BEN WENER
The Orange County Register
Nov 8, 2005
Are the Rolling Stones really the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world?
No one disputes that they are hugely influential icons virtually alone among past-60 boomer heroes who can still rock. But have they created enough memorable music in the past 25 years to still merit their exalted crown? Or has the last quarter-century been one long, nostalgic slide into mediocrity covered up by mammoth tours designed to reap mega-millions?
Thing is, if you ask even devoted fans, most will say the last truly great Stones album came out more than 25 years ago, when 1978's "Some Girls," a response to punk, restored the band to fiery rawness after a fatuous mid-`70s.
Some die-hards praise "Tattoo You," from 1981, while the excellent new album, "A Bigger Bang," has many admirers, myself included. Despite sagging sales (it has yet to go gold), most consider it their best in almost three decades.
But the point is clear: Until recently, the so-called greatest rock `n' roll band on Earth hadn't put out an indisputable classic in a very long time.
Could it be that their greatness boils down to just a decade of groundbreaking work, from their start in 1963 up through the brilliant "Exile on Main Street" and the underrated "Goats Head Soup" 10 years later? Have they been resting on laurels ever since?
I submit most people really don't know. Most of us probably couldn't hazard a guess because most of us haven't heard what the Stones have created over the past 25 years.
Think about it: When you hear the Stones on rock radio today, do you hear "One Hit (To the Body)" or anything from "Voodoo Lounge"? Of course not. You hear "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."
And yet the Stones have released almost as many albums since 1980 as they did before "Emotional Rescue." Much of it hasn't been very good, sure, but as I discovered by listening again to everything issued during what's seen as the Stones' worst era, a large amount of sharp stuff has gone ignored, at best heard by devotees only when these albums were new.
So to prove the later Stones have been worthy of a world's-best title just as often as they had no right to it, my Stones-admiring colleagues here and I have boiled down a dozen albums to a two-disc set. Call it "Forty More Licks," a companion to 2002's overview.
We had rules: To avoid repetition, anything from 1980-05 included on "Forty Licks" was automatically dismissed - so adios "Start Me Up," "Emotional Rescue," "Undercover of the Night," "You Got Me Rocking," "Love Is Strong," "Mixed Emotions," "Don't Stop" and "Anybody Seen My Baby?"
We insisted on selecting at least one song from each album, including live sets, which nearly outnumber studio jobs. That meant even the horrible "Still Life" and the atrocious "Undercover" had to cough up at least one keeper.
We also opted not to include live takes of tunes originally on "Forty Licks." And since there are so many superb cuts on "A Bigger Bang," we kept it out of the running as well. It stands on its own, and with "Some Girls" form pillars that frame what came in between. Think of "Forty More Licks," then, as having been released in tandem with "A Bigger Bang" - a reminder of how great these guys have been amid the dross.
How you cobble together this unofficial compilation is your own business, although iTunes may be your best bet. And we must warn you that this imaginary album does not fit on two discs; it's 20 minutes too long. Your MP3 player of choice won't notice, though.
"Emotional Rescue"
A better-than-reported album from 1980 that kept to the wiriness of `78 and thus plays like "Some More Girls."
1. "Dance (Pt. 1)" - The militant disco-rock opener from the first album of this era. Perhaps not everyone's favorite, but a clear indication that many Stones tracks from here on out would be about groove before anything else.
2. "Where the Boys Go" - Pure rip-it-up fun set to the spiky feel of "Shattered."
3. "She's So Cold" - Like a tombstone or an ice-cream cone. Meanwhile, Mick's "the bleeding volcano!" A catchy, if most repetitive, well-known hit, one of seven Top 40 singles left off of "Forty Licks."
4. "All About You" - The opening question says it all: "Well, if you call this a life, why must I spend it with you?" A bittersweet turn from Keith, widely viewed as a kiss-off to former paramour and drug buddy Anita Pallenberg.
"Tattoo You"
Though considered great by many, this `81 set was almost entirely newly finished outtakes and leftovers from sessions dating as far back as `72.
5. "Hang Fire" - Unemployed (perhaps unemployable) slackers on parade in England with nothing better to do than put their savings on a 100-to-1 bet. An irresistible leftover from the "Some Girls" sessions and a Top 20 hit.
6. "Slave" - The Stones at their sleaziest over a grinding riff salvaged from the "Black and Blue" days. Another great example of how groove-centric they could get at the time.
7. "Little T&A" - A gleefully trashy love note from Keith to his future wife, Patti Hansen.
8. "Neighbours" - "... do unto strangers ... what you do to yourself, yourself, yourself." The only song expressly written for "Tattoo You," inspired by Keith's clashes with his next-door New Yorkers.
9. "Tops" - An ode to fame swaddled in show-biz come-on cliches. One of the few times the Stones sounded like `70s-soul masters, not imitators.
10. "Waiting on a Friend" - Speaks for itself. An absolute classic. Unbelievable it got left off "Forty Licks."
"Still Life"
A fairly lousy live album from `82, notable mostly for spitting a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Going to a Go-Go" onto the charts.
11. "Let Me Go" - A sharp "Emotional Rescue" track that kicks harder and faster in this rubbery rendition.
"Undercover"
The Stones' worst. Beyond our pick and the once-controversial cover (with stickers strategically placed over a nude model), there's little worth remembering from this `83 mess. The band, by the way, was splintering rapidly.
12. "Too Much Blood" - One of the strangest songs in their catalog, a horn-punctuated, synth-drummed dance track that recounts the grisly but true story of a Japanese student attending the Sorbonne who killed and ate his girlfriend. Definitely weird.
"Dirty Work"
Widely panned in `86, this album now holds up as one of the harder-rocking Stones efforts, much fiercer than most of "Steel Wheels," which was instantly deemed a comeback. What once seemed phoned-in now bristles with fury.
13. "One Hit (To the Body)" - The opening salvo on what might have been a break-up album. Solos by Jimmy Page.
14. "Harlem Shuffle" - A redo of the Bob and Earl soul fave, with R&B stars Bobby Womack and Don Covay on backing vocals. Hyped by a Ralph Bakshi-animated video clip, the tune reached No. 5.
15. "Dirty Work" - "It's beginning to make me angry/ I'm beginning to hate ya!" Perhaps their angriest song. Every bit of it is ticked-off. And Mick is at his most growling.
16. "Had It With You" - An instant follow-up, lean and mean rockabilly with a blues break.
"Steel Wheels"
Mick and Keith made peace, beefed up the production and settled into a slicker sound that would prevail until this year. Not quite a great one from `89; the real comeback was on tour.
17. "Sad Sad Sad" - "But you're gonna be fine." A happy/sad rocker suggesting not every wound had healed.
18. "Hearts for Sale" - A grimy sketch of infidelity, something that old roue Jagger knows about all too well.
19. "Break the Spell" - Muddy Waters and Tom Waits on a fast train to hell. A two- steppin' shuffle, with Wood on dobro and Jagger whispering and blowing harp menacingly.
20. "Slipping Away" - One of Keith's greatest songs, a portrait of loss and aging more poignant now that these guys are past 60.
"Flashpoint"
Another concert memento, this one, from `91, boasts an energized "Miss You" and a playful "Factory Girl."
21. "Rock and a Hard Place" - The original is the last Stones single to crack the Top 40. This live version is tougher.
22. "Highwire" - A tirade, inspired by the gulf war, chosen for its rareness: Only "Street Fighting Man" and "Undercover of the Night" before it and "Sweet Neo Con" after it deal so directly with politics.
"Voodoo Lounge"
The real comeback, from `94, in which they got back to basics and revisited their softer English folk side.
23. "Sparks Will Fly" - Unfettered lust in "Some Girls" style. As nasty as geezers get.
24. "The Worst" - Keith, despondent and Dylanesque.
25. "New Faces" - A lovely return to "Lady Jane" terrain, complete with harpsichord.
26. "Out of Tears" - A maudlin but effective ballad that, reduced to a piano arrangement, echoes "Sticky Fingers" stuff.
27. "I Go Wild" - More mean-spirited lustiness set to a groove that owes more than a little to "Stray Cat Blues."
28. "Suck on the Jugular" - A superb reminder of just how funky the Stones can be when they put their libidos into it, and a fine showcase for Bill Wyman's regular replacement, bassist Darryl Jones.
29. "Thru and Thru" - One of the darkest, most disquieting Stones songs, used to great effect on "The Sopranos."
"Stripped"
Perhaps their best live set, from `95, in which the massiveness of stadiums was traded for an "unplugged" approach. Proof that new life could be breathed into old favorites.
30. "Like a Rolling Stone" - Of course. Three decades after Dylan unveiled it, the title namesakes get `round to recording their version.
31. "The Spider and the Fly" - A crafty reworking of an early gem, its "rinsed-out blonde" aged 20 years.
32. "Let It Bleed" - Everyone should own the album of the same name. But this version of the lean-on-me anthem captures a brotherly warmth.
33. "Dead Flowers" - Everyone should own "Sticky Fingers," and thus have the original. But this take is rowdier.
"Bridges to Babylon"
For 1997, a slicker kind of "Voodoo Lounge," partly because Mick insisted on utilizing au courant producers like the Dust Brothers.
34. "Flip the Switch" - A lyrically ugly but chugging opener that was pared down from a 25-minute jam.
35. "Already Over Me" - Initially given a Babyface touch, Mick reclaimed this heartbroken ballad and shifted its feel back to standard Stones.
36. "You Don't Have to Mean It" - Keith loves his reggae, and the band had dabbled in the genre since the mid-`70s. But this is one of their more successful stabs, with horns straight out of Kingston.
37. "Saint of Me" - Intended for a Mick solo album, this seemingly autobiographical, gospel-inflected bit instead became a highlight of "Bridges."
"No Security"
And another concert album, one from `98 that also featured a duet with Dave Matthews on "Memory Motel."
38. "Thief in the Night" - Arguably the strongest song on "Bridges," this dreamy, soulful Keith piece only gains sultriness in this live rendition.
39. "Out of Control" - A seductive groove built on the bass line from the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone," this is another combustible number much improved on stage.
"Live Licks"
Still more concert recordings, issued in 2004. One half consists of staples, the other comprises obscure faves.
40. "Worried About You" - A fine "Tattoo You" tune, originally dating to `74, here given a potent falsetto wail from Mick. Helps to bring our retrospective full circle.
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| November 10th, 2005 02:17 PM |
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| Neocon |
Okay, so "Suck on the Jugular" is great stuff? That's news to me. "Sleep Tonight" would be on my list, one of the best Stones songs of the last 20 years. |
| November 10th, 2005 04:39 PM |
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| glencar |
Good Lord! Dissing Undercover so much while including a slew of crap from VL? This guy's taste buds are in his colon! It's a shame because it's actually a good idea... |
| November 10th, 2005 04:41 PM |
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| Joey |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Good Lord! Dissing Undercover so much while including a slew of crap from VL? This guy's taste buds are in his colon! It's a shame because it's actually a good idea...
Well , Tie Me Up and call me " Suzi " !!!
Sassy ! ® |
| November 10th, 2005 04:43 PM |
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| glencar |
You rock, bitch! That'd be my choice too! |
| November 10th, 2005 06:31 PM |
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| Soldatti |
This guy is crazy, Undercover the worst album?
Give me a break. |
| November 10th, 2005 06:36 PM |
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| speedfreakjive |
Rock Me Baby, on Live Licks deserves a mention.
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